USC Head Coach Lane Kiffin Fined $10K for Criticizing Officials

USC Trojans head coach Lane Kiffin was fined $10,000 by the Pac-12 on Monday for his repeated criticism of game officials following his team’s triple-overtime loss to Stanford last weekend.

On the last play of regulation, replay showed that Trojans receiver Robert Woods was tackled inbounds with one second left on the clock. Kiffin claims that, prior to that play, he told the side judge he would call a timeout as soon as the play was over and was assured that the timeout would be granted. However, the officials ruled the one second had run off and no timeout was given, sending the game into overtime.

In his postgame comments, Kiffin said he was “extremely disappointed” in the officiating of the game and that he was “basically lied to” by the crew of Pac-12 officials. He also criticized a personal foul call against the Trojans during Stanford’s last drive in regulation and the spot of a ball following a holding call against Stanford in the final overtime period.

In announcing the fine, Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott did not address Kiffin’s specific criticisms, but simply said, “The Pac-12 has specific rules that prohibit our coaches from making public comments about officiating, and this prohibition specifically includes comments that create doubts about the credibility of the conference’s officiating program.”